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NBA: Boston will see the semi-finals, the Clippers one step away from elimination

Boston did not tremble.

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NBA: Boston will see the semi-finals, the Clippers one step away from elimination

Boston did not tremble. The Celtics, big favorites in the series, dominated Miami at home (118-84) to conclude their first round in 5 sets (4-1) and advance to the Eastern Conference semi-finals. In the night, they crushed the Heat to erase the painful memory of their elimination in the Eastern Conference final by the Floridians last year.

“I wasn’t really worried about what happened last year,” said Celtic’s coach Joe Mazzulla. I liked the way we approached the series, without worrying about the opponent.” Jaylen Brown and Derrick White scored 25 points each and made the absence of Latvian center Kristaps Porzingis go unnoticed.

Miami struggled for its part, still without its star Jimmy Butler, injured since the play-offs and now on vacation, despite Bam Adebayo's 23 points. The historic Massachusetts franchise pulled away in the first quarter, winning 41-23, without ever letting up. Boston will face either the Cleveland Cavaliers or the Orlando Magic in the next round, trailing 3-2 in a balanced first round series.

Winners in Dallas on Sunday, the Clippers sank at home against Dallas (123-93), suffering the largest defeat in the play-offs in their history. In a quickly resigned Crypto.com arena which emptied during the fourth quarter, the Clippers never found the solution in defense against Luka Doncic (35 points, 10 assists) and his teammates.

Deprived of Kawhi Leonard (knee inflammation) for the second game in a row, the Angelenos were too imprecise (9 out of 35 at 25.7% from distance), seeing the gap create in the 2nd quarter without succeeding to react, like Paul George (15 points), and James Harden (7 points).

Now trailing 3-2, the Clippers are on the verge of elimination and will travel to Dallas on Friday to try to avoid further disillusionment in the play-offs, despite the line-up of stars assembled in recent seasons (Leonard, George, Harden, Russell Westbrook).

“We have to turn the page. We did not play our best game, we had collective problems, we must be better in game 6 and we will be,” tried to reassure coach Tyronn Lue.

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